Island Restaurants Make Move to Smoke-free Dining

Wine steward Todd Allen stands behind the new bar in the recently renovated dining area at Goodfellow's Restaurante in the River View Hotel. The dining area is now smoke-free. Three Curtis restaurants and one Mackinac Island restaurant have become smoke-free establishments in recent weeks, ahead of proposed legislation that would ban smoking in all workplaces throughout the state, including restaurants and bars, because of heightened concerns of the dangers of secondhand smoke to workers and the public. The bill passed the Senate May 8, and is now under consideration by the House of Representatives. Under the current version of the bill, Native Americanowned establishments would be exempt from the smoking ban.

Weber's Rustic Inn, Chamberlin's Ole Forest Inn, and Cobblestone Bar and Grill, all of Curtis, have all recently become smoke-free, reported Luce-Mackinac- Alger-Schoolcraft (LMAS) Health Department.

On Mackinac Island, Goodfellow's Restaurante at the Lake View Hotel, which has recently remodeled its dining room to include a bar, has gone smoke-free as of Friday, May 9. Goodfellow's Bar and Grille continues to allow smoking. Goodfellow's is the latest Island business to voluntarily convert part of the establishment to a smoke-free environment.

Because the dining room is in the hotel, owner Geoff Lynch said the conversion helps make the area more accommodating to non-smokers and families with children.

"The main bar is always rowdy and people get offended, so we figured we'd make the dining area smokeless to accommodate everybody," he said.

Legislation first introduced in January 2007 to ban smoking in all Michigan workplaces has recently taken a large step toward becoming law. The Michigan Senate passed a bill Thursday, May 8, that would ban smoking in all workplaces throughout the state, including restaurants and bars. The bill, which spent several months in a Senate committee after being passed by the House in late 2007, passed by a vote of 25 to 12.

The Senate voted to amend the original House bill to eliminate exemptions for casinos, bingo halls, and smoking bars. The only exceptions to the legislation now, as passed by the Senate, are Native Americanowned establishments, including casinos, bars, and restaurants.

State Senator Jason Allen of Traverse City voted against the bill.

While the senator understands the health concerns related to secondhand smoke and supports establishments who have chosen to voluntarily go smoke-free, he has steadfastly opposed state mandates on the private sector, said Norm Saari, chief of staff for Senator Allen.

"As a policy, the senator and his family prefer to go to restaurants and establishments where there is no smoking," said Mr. Saari, noting that neither the senator nor his wife smoke. "However, his philosophical view is that he does not believe that the state should tell the private sector what they should and should not do."

State Representative Gary McDowell voted for the version of the bill that was passed earlier in the House. The Senate-revised bill has now been returned to the House for consideration.

Currently, 33 other states have passed smoke-free legislation, and more than half of all Americans live in states or communities with smoke-free workplace protection laws. These laws typically stem from health concerns and complications linked to secondhand smoke. According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke is responsible for 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.

There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke, the current Surgeon General's Report says. Even short exposures to secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack. Secondhand smoke, which contains hundreds of toxic chemicals and carcinogens, is a known cause of cancer and upper respiratory infections and also aggravates symptoms of asthma.

While dining area customers love the change at Goodfellow's Restaurante, Mr. Lynch said, he opposes legislation that would ban smoking from all businesses.

"I still like the smoky bar," he said. "I don't smoke, but being in the bar business, it doesn't bother me."

Mr. Lynch is also concerned that a smoking ban would negatively impact his business.

"Abunch of my buddies completely went out of business when that went into effect in California and Florida," he said.

Some local restaurants have chosen to limit smoking in other ways.

The Seabiscuit Cafe on Mackinac Island has voluntarily gone smoke-free until 4 p.m. each day, a decision made two years ago by owners Debra and Sandra Orr. Manager John Nash said that many people, even smokers, don't mind the lunchtime ban.

"People don't want to smell it while they're eating," he said.

While some smokers were upset by the change, Mr. Nash said, others just go outside to have a cigarette and come back in after they'd finished. Mr. Nash also said, however, that he would lose much of his business if the cafe was required to go smokefree after 4.

While establishments may be concerned about a loss of business, bars and restaurants elsewhere have reported success with smoke-free policies, said Melanie MacDowell, a certified prevention specialist for the LMAS Health Department.

"Most of them are worried about a decline in revenue, but everyone else is doing the same thing," Ms. MacDowell said. "Places are finding that they're having more family business coming in because they're advertising that they're smoke-free."

In addition to customers, restaurant and bar employees may appreciate such policies to protect their health, she suggested.

"A lot of people, especially with Michigan's low economy, don't have a choice of where they can work," said Ms. MacDowell. "Bars and restaurants are easy places to work, and a lot of those people don't have a choice whether to work in a smoking or nonsmoking environment."